DCUO - Archaeologists of Earth
by evilfuzzle2
Summary: My league (Eternal Justice) is having a contest for origin stories for our characters, this is my entry for my character Rachel Ellen. Two archaeologist sisters have their world turned upside down when they discover an artefact that changes their DNA. Later the story follows Rachel as she tries to protect the people of Gotham during the initial Brainiac assault. OC.


**Archaeologists of Earth**

**Rachel Ellen**

Rachel and Lisa heaved at the collapsed wall in front of them. They shone their torches into the small room. Dust particles sparkled in the light. They climbed through the hole to find that the room contained a few artifacts around the edges. Rachel and her sister had come to the ruins to investigate. They had been interested in the archaeology in the region as it varied from the Olmec, Aztec and Mayan architecture.

They had never seen one like it before. Even though all that was shown on the surface was rubble of a structure with some broken stone statues. They had come quite deep into the underground chambers of the ruin. The rooms they had passed through could barely be called rooms as they had collapsed in many places only held together by the tree roots and dirt surrounding them.

Rachel and Lisa dusted off some of the artifacts and inspected the eroded walls. There were parts of inscribed images and some type of hieroglyphics they could not read. But most of it has faded away and crumbled in time.

Against a stable wall, opposite from where they entered, were some pedestals. The centre pedestal had engravings along it and was more ornate then the other two. On top was a large stone in the shape of a tear drop, it had ornate carvings along its surface. Though they were hard to see as it was laden with dust and dirt. Rachel and Lisa carefully wiped the dust off the artifact. "The glyphs on this seem to match the ones on the wall," exclaimed Lisa.

Rachel peered closer to the object, "It's nothing like the other written languages in Mexico. Nor any in the world that I know of."

The two archaeologist sisters ran their fingers along the intricate lines trying to clear the specks of dirt. The artifact began to glow. The girls stepped back in fright and gasped. The glow got brighter and brighter until they had to shield their eyes. A terrible pain racked through their bodies, as if something had dug into their backs and was pulling at their bones and flesh. Their skin burned hot and felt like it was twisting the skin. They screamed and passed out from the pain.

The darkness began to subside as Rachel blinked back into consciousness. The room was dark as the artifact was no longer glowing and their torches had fallen to the ground facing the eroded walls. Rachel rubbed her eyes as she adjusted to the light. She tried to get up but her back felt heavy, as if someone was lying on top of her. She heaved against it and sat up. She nearly fell backwards as the weight shifted.

Rachel felt something soft touch her skin on her back and she let out a quick scream. She felt something shift at her back and heard heavy fluttering. It felt like she had reached her arms outwards behind her. But her hands were on the floor in front of her, so what was this strange feeling. She turned her head slowly to look behind her and saw a mass of feathers reaching out behind. She gasped and half screamed as she realized they were attached to her. She jerked away and the mass of feathers spread outwards, curling slightly around her. Rachel was terrified and was shaking in fear.

She heard movement near her and turned to face her sister. Or what she believed was her sister. Lisa had silver hair and appeared to be shorter then she was before. But the thing that made Rachel's mouth drop were the two feathery wings extending from her sisters back. Rachel quietly mumbled, "L-Lisa, i-is that you?"

Lisa rubbed her head, "of course it's me. Are you alright? What happen-"

Lisa faced her sister, her mouth dropped. They stayed like that for a moment trying to process. Both of them gaping at air, but unable to speak. Lisa dropped her gaze and looked at her self. Rachel did the same.

She raised her bare hands to find that there appeared to be impressions on her skin and the colour had changed from the normal pale skin tone to a green. She reached for the nearby discarded torch to examine herself better. The impressions on her hands ran up her arms and looked like vines. She rubbed her face and could feel them there as well. A shiver ran down her body in fright. She kept telling her self, _hold on, don't panic, don't panic_. The wings at her back twitched as she got more paranoid. They brushed up the dust and dirt on the ground causing more particles to shimmer in the light.

Rachel ceased the examining of her strange discolored skin and reached out to the wings. They were soft to the touch but felt strong. She carefully stood up, wobbling slightly with the extra weight. _Is it me, or am I standing taller then I did before? It could just be because Lisa is so short now._ Rachel shifted her wings to try and get used to the movement of them.

It was so strange, like extra limbs that you had never used before. They had black and green feathers. The long feathers at the base of the wing were black and lead up in a gradient to green, with black rows of feathers every now and then. She folded the wings inwards to try and support her back and keep them from hanging out on the ground or flapping uselessly in the air. They reached down just below her knees. They seemed large enough that she could probably fly with them. Rachel laughed to her self, _flight I can't even imagine it._

Rachel looked ahead of herself to where the pedestal sat with the artifact. Rachel's eyes went wide as she suddenly realized the wall behind the pedestals was gone. Not collapsed or crumbled, but vanished into thin air. She was too engrossed with her strange appearance to even notice the room had changed.

A large dark hall expanded behind the pedestal. Rachel shone her torch into the dark. Light reflected off items sitting in neat piles and on benches and more pedestals. Rachel hesitantly stepped forward. She gulped and glanced down at the artifact that had caused all this. She reached out and carefully ran her fingers along it again.

Nothing happened. _Damn_, she thought, _I hoped it would change everything back_. She laughed to herself; _this is probably a dream_. Rachel walked into the room awkwardly as her wings often splayed out to try and help her keep balance. The stupid things were heavy and awkward and she could feel when ever they touched something. This was so weird, like some kind of wacked out comic book story.

Strange items were contained in the hall. They appeared to be very old, but the technology was way too advanced for the time. Not only were some of the items metal, which was not around in this period of time, they appeared to look similar to weaponry and devices from current times or perhaps even more advanced then today.

_Maybe we had breathed in some sort of hallucinogenic gas when we entered the ruins and this was all some crazy drug dream I'm having_. She looked back at her sister and felt her hand touch her arm, as she could no longer reach Rachel's shoulder. They needed contact to know that this was real, and by god it was.

The sisters separated and began to carefully examine the room and its contents. _This crazy room has to hold some answers about what the hell just happened to us_, Rachel hoped. Rachel found a thick, flat metal object with inscribed glyphs. Rachel picked it up and blew off the dust. _What harm could come now from picking up objects after what had occurred, nothing could be worse then what we look like_. Rachel squinted at the glyphs, they were the same as the ones in the last room and on the artifact. But this time she could read them. She blinked twice in confusion and then sighed. _What ever happened is crazy enough already, so what about understanding the writing systems of an advanced culture that never existed_.

Rachel began reading aloud so that her sister could hear while she looked around the room. "This scout ship, Xihuitl, was chosen to carry the remnants of our culture to the under developed planet known as Earth. It's crew's purpose is to guide the people into civilization and continue our race on this new planet as our home world, _Mochantia,_ has become un-inhabitable."

Rachel quietly skimmed ahead until she found an image of the artifact they had discovered. "The Majerain is a device bestowed upon this crew with utmost importance. It contains DNA of our people and will help restore our civilization upon your destined planet. This device will transform those you deem worthy into Xoxoctic. Only use this when you must as it has a limited amount of uses."

Rachel put down the tablet and looked around the hall. Glowing runes and items within the hall gave light to the ancient ruins. They must have activated through motion sensors or something.

All items are in perfect condition, untouched by tomb robbers or even natural causes. There was no erosion or water damage to the walls; dust covered the floor in a white coating not even a foot print from previous people. Except now, for when Rachel and Lisa had walked or moved their wings. Rachel had never seen such a pristine archaeological site. Especially since the area in the other ruins was a crumbled mess, the only room that was intact was the one they were in before. Perhaps the strange items within the hall had protected the last room from complete destruction?

Rachel walked over to the wall and deciphered the images on it. There was some of the strange language she had seen in the tomb, but most of it was large images in panels. Rachel investigated the images in front of her, hoping it would tell her more about what happened to the race after they arrived on Earth.

The first image showed one of the Xoxoctic they appeared to be flying near a group of humans. They appeared to be making some sort of trade. The next image portrayed the Xoxoctic amongst the people, but they seemed to be revered by the civilization. The Xoxoctic seemed to be helping the civilization flourish with some type of advanced technology and by guiding them. There were a few more paneled images depicting agriculture, technology, architecture and so on.

She even found one showing the Majerain. It was a large ceremonial scene. Depicting the Xoxoctic with the humans. It perceived to be a wedding of some sort. The human touched the Majerain and turned into one of the Xoxoctic. The scenes after showed basic daily life of the civilization as it expanded and incorporated more of the Xoxoctic into their culture.

Rachel came upon a battle scene. It appeared to be the Xoxoctic civilization protecting their territory against neighboring inhabitants. The Xoxoctic were using highly advanced technological weapons. The inhabitants would not stand a chance against their force. However they did seem to hurt some of the Xoxoctic. _So this race was not indestructible, they had weaknesses just like everyone else._

The next panel showed the death or passing of one of the Xoxoctic. This individual may have been killed in the battle or died of natural causes; it was hard to tell in the image. The individual lay on the ground, its body began to sprout roots. The roots twisted together and spread outwards and upwards creating a large trunk with leaves and branches. The Xoxoctic had turned into a tree. Perhaps in ancient times these creatures were similar to the idea of nymphs. _Well at least it explained the plant skin._

Then it dawned on Rachel. This ruin was surrounded by an ancient rainforest that expanded for kilometers. There was even a large tree growing through the ruins itself. The sister's had to hack their way through it to get past it earlier. Perhaps that was the last stand for this civilization, its final resting place and they had disturbed it.

There must be thousands, perhaps millions of trees in the area, not all of them could have been from the collapse of the civilization in one foul battle. Could they?

Lisa called to Rachel to see some of the items. They seemed to be clothing items and weapons. Rachel could feel the breeze on her back from her twitching wings and realized her wings had ripped her top down the back. Rachel lifted up what appeared to be some sort of upper bodice, it appeared to be brand new, not a speck of dust on it. The top was constructed of a flexible metal. It appeared to have room for the wings in the back so Rachel ditched her tattered top for the ancient garment. Rachel shifted her wings to try and get a feel for their movement. She stretched it out to get used to the weight and to get a better look at them. She gave them a flap and nearly tripped herself over as the weight shifted forward. These were going to take a bit of getting used to.

Rachel glided through the dark Gotham City. Easily twisting and turning through the streets. Her metallic armour glinting in the street lamps. Yet she had been taught that metal armour could reveal an individual's location so she didn't have much of it. Simply on the shoulders, feet and the chainmail on her leggings. These were items she had recovered from the ancient site of the Xoxoctic a year ago.

Her colour scheme for her outfit matched her skin and wings. The black and toned down green also helped her keep hidden in the dark streets of Gotham. She wore on her head a jaguar hood with several feathers sticking out one side, her long brown hair tucker inside. The feathers rustled in the breeze as she surveyed the city. Rachel had based her outfit off the images she had looked over countless times in the ruins in Mexico and the garments she picked up, but of course with modern touches. She wouldn't be caught dead flying around in just a loincloth or dress.

* * *

><p>She had moved to Gotham several months ago to try and use her new abilities to help people. And Gotham seemed to always need help, not that certain people would agree they needed the help. It had taken her a lot of time to get used to her new appearance and accept it. Thank god she had found people who accepted her so easily and introduced her to others with similar experiences. She may have gone crazy if not.<p>

Rachel flew up and perched on one of the tall gothic buildings. Her wings tucked in behind her as the feathers fluttered silently in the breeze. The city seemed quieter then usual tonight. Rachel switched her com to the police radio channel to see if any new developments had occurred. Only the simple stuff like a thief trying to steal an antennae and was apprehended by the police shortly afterwards or a bag snatcher, which again was apprehended by the appropriate authorities. Rachel yawned, what an uneventful night. Batman and Robin were of doing dynamic duo stuff, probably to do with the Joker or Poison Ivy.

She sighed and checked that her mask was sitting properly. It was styled after her mentor, Nightwing. It was hard to believe how quickly and drastically someone's life can change. Even though the mask was not necessary because her skin and wings would give her away instantly, it could still party hide her emotions from the enemy or which way she was looking. The lenses also protected her eyes. It still held some practical purpose.

Rachel could hear a whistling sound in the distance. She looked up to see strange contraptions falling to the earth. She immediately jumped to life. Literally, she dived off the building and spread her wings wide to hurry towards the crash site. Before she could even get there a purple light had shone up and the contraption expanded around the edge of the building. People were screaming inside, banging against the force field. Rachel shot her hand blasters at the barrier, but it didn't even seem to faze it. More of the objects fell from the sky encasing buildings all around. She tried desperately to break through the screen but nothing was working.

Then she felt a chill down her spin as an ice blast shot past her at the light screen. She turned down; expecting to see Mister Freeze but it was just a civilian. She glanced around and more people seemed to be using strange abilities.

She flew up higher into the air to survey what was happening. It was total chaos on the streets. Rachel dived down again as she saw a building start to collapse. She shot at it with the blasters to try and break up the rubble before it crushed the civilians. But apparently she was not alone in this.

Fire shot out at the building, ice constructs created barriers and plant vines entwined around the building to try and stabilize it as well as pull people out of the way. _How were there so many people with superpowers suddenly appearing? Were they friend or foe? At least for now they were trying to help._

Rachel heard someone scream near by. She twisted around to see Nightwing tackle the person out of the way of an out of control car. The car smashed into a light pole just behind them. Rachel flew over as Nightwing helped the lady to her feet. "What is going on?!" Rachel exclaimed.

Nightwing glanced around, "Batman sent a quick message explaining that Brainiac is trying to assimilate Earth. But I have no idea why people are sprouting superpowers left, right and centre."

There was a sparking sound coming from the damaged car. Nightwing heard it and shouted, "get down!"

People turned to run or duck as the car caught fire and exploded. Rachel reached out to Nightwing, she could not let anything happen to him as he had saved her life so many times that she had lost count. She was not going to let an explosion get to him. The blast was bright and Rachel squeezed her eyes shut as the heat engulfed them.

But time ticked by and she realized she wasn't burning and the heat died down. Rachel peeked open her eyes to find a green glowing barrier around herself and Nightwing. The blast died down and she noticed others around her were also encased in the floating green bubbles.

Nightwing looked to the sky, searching for the Green Lantern as the Corp were the only beings he knew of that could project green light constructs. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was safe. The bubbles dissipated, the light retracted towards Rachel's hand. Nightwing and Rachel slowly turned their gaze down to her hand as she lifted it up to find a green ring on her finger. She turned it over to look at the ring better. It was similar to the Green Lantern Corps, but did not have the symbol. In its place was a simple green glowing stone.

Rachel gulped, _why do these kinds of things keep happening to me_?! She could feel the power humming through her from the ring. It scared her but at the same time it felt right and a part of her. Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts as she hard screaming and yelling around her. People were disappearing in hazes of light. Then suddenly the sounds ceased and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Rachel twitched. She tried to move but couldn't. Panic spread through her as she flashed open her eyes. In front of her was a domed yellow screen. She pulled again at her restraints. Her ring glowed and light pulsed off her body blowing open the contrapment.<p>

She hesitantly stepped out of the pod and stretched her wings, a green aura surrounded her. There were other pods but they didn't seem to have anyone in them. A speaker system cracked to life. "The hack worked. I'm in and your awake and free. Okay, I'm Oracle, and we are going to get you off this ship…"

Thank god Oracle was okay, was Nightwing or Batman as well? And what about Lisa, was she even alive? But one thing Rachel knew was that she was going to get off this ship and find out herself.

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**Notes:**

Our League on DCUO (Eternal Justice) is having a contest for the best origin story for our characters. This is my entry for my character Rachel Ellen.

I chose this story to include my sister as we started the game together and I originally based my style off of hers. I have left it open for Green Ech0 to continue her part in which ever way she wants to take it.

I love the mythology and history of the Aztecs so I tried to entwine that into my character's origin story. The names of the key aspects are from Aztec words (via Google). However I wanted to also include the origin of the actual game into her story as well.

So I came to the conclusion to have her basic abilities (flight), look/style (skin, wings, outfit, etc) and weapons from the Xoxoctic race, while her Hard Light power comes from the exobytes. I was thinking of having it from the actual Green Lantern Corp, yet in the game the lanterns are always being affected while the characters aren't. So I believe the ability is from a different source.

**Glossary:**

Xihuitl – plant in _Nahuatl_

_- This is the name of the ship._

_Xoxoctic – green in Nahuatl_

_- This could be where Lisa gets her code name from._

_- Name of the race._

_Mochantia – to reside/to live at. In Nahuatl_

_- The name of the home world._


End file.
